Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO), is an organization facilitating international police cooperation. It was established as the International Criminal Police Commission in 1923 and adopted its telegraphic address as its common name in 1956.The organization's headquarters is in Lyon, France. It is the second largest intergovernmental organization after the United Nations, in terms of number of member states.In order to maintain as politically neutral a role as possible, Interpol's constitution forbids it to undertake any interventions or activities of a political, military, religious, or racial nature. Its work focuses primarily on public safety, terrorism, organized crime, crimes against humanity, environmental crime, genocide, war crimes, piracy, illicit drug production, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering, child pornography, white-collar crime, computer crime, intellectual property crime and corruption.

History of Interpol

Interpol headquarters in Lyon

The first significant move towards creating Interpol was in 1914 at the First International Criminal Police Congress. Police officers, lawyers and magistrates from 14 countries gathered in Monaco to discuss arrest procedures, identification techniques, centralized international criminal records and extradition proceedings. However World War I delayed this initiative and it was not until 1923 that Interpol was founded at the Second International Police Congress in Vienna as the International Criminal Police (ICP). Founding members were Poland, Austria, Belgium, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. The United States joined Interpol in 1923.Following the Anschluss (Austria's annexation by Germany) in 1938, the organization fell under the control of Nazi Germany, and the Commission's headquarters were eventually moved to Berlin in 1942. From 1938 to 1945, the presidents of Interpol included Otto Steinhäusl, Reinhard Heydrich, Arthur Nebe, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner. All were generals in the SS, and Kaltenbrunner was the highest ranking SS officer executed after the Nuremberg Trial.After the end of World War II in 1945, the organization was revived as the International Criminal Police Organization by European Allies of World War II officials from Belgium, France, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. Its new headquarters were established in Saint-Cloud, a town on the outskirts of Paris. They remained there until 1989, when they were moved to their present location, Lyon.Until the 1980s Interpol did not intervene in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals in accordance with Article 3 of its Constitution forbidding intervention in 'political' matters. However, it has issued arrest warrants for former country leaders like Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak despite Article 3, on the grounds that they were accused of corruption (particularly embezzlement).On 2 July 2010, former Interpol President Jackie Selebi was found guilty of corruption by the South African High Court in Johannesburg for accepting bribes worth €156,000 from a drug trafficker. After being charged in January 2008, Selebi resigned as president of Interpol and was put on extended leave as National Police Commissioner of South Africa.

Constitution

The role of Interpol is defined by the general provisions of its constitution.Article 2 states that its role is to

To ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities within the limits of the laws existing in the different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

To establish and develop all institutions likely to contribute effectively to the prevention and suppression of ordinary law crimes.

Article 3 states

It is strictly forbidden for the Organization to undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.

Methodology

Interpol differs from most law-enforcement agenciesa gents do not make arrests themselves, and there is no single Interpol jail where criminals are taken. The agency functions as an administrative liaison between the law-enforcement agencies of the member countries, providing communications and database assistance. This is vital when fighting international crime because language, cultural and bureaucratic differences can make it difficult for officers of different nations to work together. Interpol's databases help law enforcement see the big picture of international crime. While other agencies have their own extensive crime databases, the information rarely extends beyond one nation's borders. Interpol can track criminals and crime trends around the world. They maintain collections of fingerprints and mug shots, lists of wanted persons, DNA samples and travel documents. Their lost and stolen travel document database alone contains more than 12 million records. They also analyze all this data and release information on crime trends to the member countries.A secure worldwide communications network allows Interpol agents and member countries to contact each other at any time. Known as I-24/7, the network offers constant access to Interpol's databases. While the National Central Bureaus are the primary access sites to the network, some member countries have expanded it to key areas such as airports and border access points. Member countries can also access each other's criminal databases via the I-24/7 system.In the event of an international disaster, terrorist attack or assassination, Interpol can send an incident response team. This team can offer a range of expertise and database access to assist with victim identification, suspect identification and the dissemination of information to other nations' law enforcement agencies. In addition, at the request of local authorities, they can act as a central command and logistics operation to coordinate other law enforcement agencies involved in a case. Such teams were deployed 12 times in 2005. Interpol began issuing its own passport in 2009 with hopes that member states would remove visa requirements for individuals traveling for Interpol business, thereby improving response times.

Structure and governance

General Assembly

The General Assembly is composed of delegates appointed by the governments of member countries. As Interpol's supreme governing body, it meets once a year and takes all the major decisions affecting general policy, the resources needed for international cooperation, working methods, finances and programmes of activities.The General Assembly also elects the Organization's Executive Committee. Generally speaking, the Assembly takes decisions by a simple majority in the form of Resolutions. Each member country represented has one vote.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee (EC) meets three times a year and sets organizational policy and direction. The EC's members sit at the top level of policing in their own countries and bring many years of experience and knowledge to advise and guide us.Its role is to:

Supervise the execution of the decisions of the General Assembly;

Prepare the agenda for sessions of the General Assembly;

Submit to the General Assembly any programme of work or project which it considers useful;

Supervise the administration and work of the Secretary General.

Elected by the General Assembly, the EC has 13 members comprising the ﻿President of the Organization, three Vice-Presidents and nine Delegates, all from different countries.The President is elected for four years, and Vice-Presidents for three. They are not immediately eligible for re-election either to the same posts or as delegates to the Executive Committee.

General Secretariat

Located in Lyon, France, the General Secretariat operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a yearRecognizing the value of bringing together police within a region to share experiences and tackle common crime issues, the Secretariat has seven regional offices:

Argentina (Buenos Aires)

Cameroon (Yaoundé)

Côte d’Ivoire (Abidjan)

El Salvador (San Salvador)

Kenya (Nairobi)

Thailand (Bangkok)

Zimbabwe (Harare)

Interpol presence on the international stage is strengthened through liaison offices at the United Nations in New York and at the European Union in Brussels. These enable Interpol to work closely with those UN and EU departments and entities that share Interpol mission of preventing and combating transnational crime, and develop joint efforts to enhance regional and global security.

National Central Bureaus

At the heart of every Interpol member country is a National Central Bureau (NCB), linking national police with global network. It is typically a division of the national police agency or investigation service and serves as the contact point for all Interpol activities in the field.